Greater Than
by Junebert
Summary: Noah Jones is just an average kid. But when he is taken to Camp Halfblood, his world is turned upside down. He finds out he is a son of Athena, and meets a girl, who you could say, is 'Greater Than' Noah. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

"I'm home!" I yell as I open the door to my house. Of course it's not my house, it's me and my dad's. I lock the door and walk to the kitchen.

My dad's light, easy tone says, "Hey Noah, so how was school?" and it's really the first time I've heard him say that in years. Something's either really wrong or really broken.

"Since when do you ask that question?" I say carefully. Since when did he wear an apron and cook me stuff? "What are you making? And what are you wearing?" I ask jokingly.

"Oh, this old thing?" My dad says as he tugs the apron. "I've had it for years! Your, uh, mother, gave it to me." My dad's voice quiets. "When you were a baby."

My mom left when I was less than a month old. She said she had business to take care of, and she'd be back soon. Liar. But my dad and I make it. We're alone, but we've got each other.

"I'm making dinner, and it'll probably take awhile, so you can go and do something else now, if you like." He said quickly. I knew this look, when his eyes dart back and forth, and his wrinkles get scrunched up.

"You messed up on the food! Dude!" I accuse. "Looks like we're ordering pizza again." I said. I can't cook, and neither can my dad, so we always ordered out.

"Just give me an hour to save it! I know it will fine once I take it out of the oven." He pleads.

"What are you even making?" I asked sarcastically. I had my money on pizza.

"Spaghetti," He mutters. I burst out laughing and he looks at me with puzzled eyes. "What?" He said innocently.

"You don't cook spaghetti in the oven! You cook it on a stove!" I say between laughs. Yeah, my life is this sad. I laugh at my dad baking spaghetti.

"Yeah sure! And you cook the sauce separate from the noodles!" He sarcastically says.

I stopped laughing. "Dad, you _do_ cook the noodles separate from the sauce." I inform him.

"Okay then, do you want pepperoni or sausage?" He surrenders. We are such a healthy family, aren't we?

LINE BREAK

"Dude! Pass me the ball!" The most obnoxious voice on the planet shouts at me. "Didn't you hear me, Jones?" Aaron Green shouted again. Aaron was my school bully, and lucky for me, he was on my basketball team that day.

I throw the ball in his general direction and run to the hoop. I run into Sarah Bennett on the way, and I knock her down. Oh no, not again.

"Watch where you're going, jerk! I think you, like, totally broke my leg!" Sarah said as she got up. "If I wasn't on your team, I would totally crush you." She said, though she probably didn't know how to dribble.

"Sorry," I mutter as I run towards the net.

LINEBREAK

"Dude, what's going on?" I asked Zack as we got on the bus. "You look liked I just grew wings or something." I say to him as we sat down.

"Nothing, I just realized something and it's gonna take awhile to get used to." He answered reassuringly. Total lies. He saw the look on my face and repeated, "Nothing,"

"Okay, just don't try anything stupid." I ordered him, but knowing Zack, that's like telling gravity to knock it off.

"Why would you be expecting me to do something stupid?" He asked as if I hurt him.

"Because that's all you do." A familiar voice says as Alexis sat down next to us. "I doubt you could control your stupidity for a lifetime, let alone an hour." Alexis always has to say smart-sounding things, even if they are about stupidity.

"Wannna bet?" Zack asked her as he reached his hand over the seat. Not again. Alexis always won bets. And Zack never learned

"Ten bucks says you can't do anything stupid for the next hour." Alexis said, shaking his hand.

"Stupid as in what?" I asked, dying to give Zack a chance of winning. After all, he was my best friend.

"Hitting anything, especially inanimate objects, pushing, knocking something down, burning something, even yourself, stubbing your toe or fingers, yelling at inanimate objects including the TV, swearing, hurting yourself in any way, and breaking something." Alexis finished.

"That's quite a list." I said, trying to sound smart in front of her. Alexis was a genius, most of the time an evil one.

"Well, I'll inform you if I do any one of those things while you're not here." Zack said as I got off the bus. Alexis is going to win, but I never get the chance to find out.


	2. Chapter 2

When I got home that day I found the house empty, and a bag of Doritos sitting unopened on the kitchen counter. That's all I need for a couple hours.

I turned on the TV and found nothing good, so I put in a video game and got cheese all over the controllers.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door as I reached a new level. I looked out of the curtains to find two teenagers on the porch, dressed weirdly.

"Hello?" I say as I open the door. It's a girl and a guy. The girl had long blonde hair, but it was in the way of her eyes so I couldn't see their color. The guy had a buzz cut, like in the army, of brown hair, and muscles wider than the length of my hand, and he wasn't even flexing.

"What is your name?" The guy asks in a very low tone.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" I say timidly.

"We just need to know, you'll understand later." The girl said in a very high voice. Well, I suppose I shouldn't have given them my name, but hey, they're teenagers, like seventeen, and I was only thirteen.

"Noah Jones. Now will you explain?" I say.

"We need you to come with us, Noah. We know you don't know us, but you'll have to trust us on this." She says quickly.

"I don't even know you're names." I say quickly.

"I'm Hazel, and this is Brad." Hazel said as she motioned for me to come. Were these people crazy? They think I'm just going to come with them after they tell me their names.

"I can't come with you. I have school, friends, and a dad who needs me." I say, feeling girly and childish.

"You can see them again, at some point, but you need to come with us right now, whether you want to or not. Please, just trust me." Hazel pleads.

"Dude, you need to come with us or you'll die soon." Brad says almost to low for me to hear. I didn't know what to tell them, but I didn't need to because suddenly Brad punched me in the face and it was lights out.


	3. Chapter 3

I felt something soft under me and something soft under my head. I was stiff, like I hadn't moved in days.

"Is he awake?" I heard a high voice say. "I _knew_ Brad shouldn't have hit him! He's been out all day! Such a dummy, all Ares kids are." She muttered. I recognized the voice, someone I knew.

"Hazel, he'll wake up sooner or later, just give it time." A mature male voice said. Hazel. The one who took me with the buff guy.

"But he's my first recruit. I don't want him to be messed up by Brad's punch." She said innocently. Recruit? Like in the army? They took me to be in the army?

Wait, what had she said a few seconds ago? Something about Ares? What's Ares, and what does it have to do with Brad?

I sat up, daring to open my eyes, afraid what I might see. It's a room filled with people, actually, more like teenagers. People are sitting on cots, almost as if it's a hospital.

"Oh! He's up! I wonder what his parentage is! Maybe he's one of the big three's children! That would be so cool! And then I would be known as the girl who recruited him!" Hazel squealed, looking way different from when I saw her last. Her hair was in a ponytail, and her eyes were a weird hazel, which is probably where she got the name, and she was wearing a bright orange shirt with words I couldn't make out on it.

"What about my parents?" I ask. "Dude! I've got to call my dad, make sure he knows I'm okay." I realize.

"Dang! He already has a dad! That means he's not a big three kid." She moped. She really looked utterly disappointed. What was the big three?

"Hello Noah, welcome to camp." A male voice I recognized as Brad's as soon as I looked said. "Sorry about smacking you, but it was the only way to get you to come."

"Oh, it's fine. You gotta do what you gotta do." I say sarcastically. Didn't Hazel say I was out for the whole day? "What were you guys talking about with the big three and parentage?"

"Oh, well, I guess there is no simple way to say this, but you're a demigod. A half-blood." Brad informed me. What are they talking about?

"What they heck is that?" I ask dumbly.

"It means you're half god and half mortal. One of your parents is a Greek god, and your other parent is normal. In your case, your father is normal, so your mother must be a goddess, like Demeter." Hazel said enthusiastically. Is she nuts?

"Oh, well this sure makes a _lot_ of sense. Now can I go home?" I ask.

"You think we're making this up? I wish. You're at camp half-blood. You should be claimed soon, so we can see who your godly parent is. _I_ think it'll be Demeter, but I'm not entirely sure." She said.

"Wait, so this is real?" I asked them.

"Well, yeah. You haven't really been looking around much, have you?" She said. Why was she so excited about this?

"If this is real, then tell me who your god parents are." I challenge. I probably sound like I'm five, but hey, you would be too if you just found out that you're half god.

"My dad is Hermes, which isn't my first choice, but its fine. Brad's dad is Ares, the god of war, and stuff like that." Hazel told me. "By the way, Hermes is the messenger god, and the god of thieves, so I could probably take your wallet right now if I wanted to."

Great, just what I need. A girl who could pickpocket me and a stupid camp for demigods. "What if I don't want to be a demigod? What if I just want to be normal?" I ask girlishly, yet again.

For one of the first time in the conversation, Brad's voice answered, "You have no choice. Remember what I told you yesterday, before I punched you?"

"Uh, something about killing me, wait, _yesterday_? I've been out for that long?" I ask, astonished. If they took me here around four o'clock, and its light outside, I was out for more than twelve hours! Boy, what a punch.

"Yeah, as I said, sorry about that. But monsters would've found you, but we found you first. Luckily." Brad apologized. "Now that you're conscious, I mean, uh, awake, we can give you the tour."

"Oh my god! Look at his hand! It's shimmering!" Hazel squeaked. I looked at my left hand, and black ink appeared on the palm, in Greek. Suddenly they appeared clearly, and it said, 'Athena'. Who's that? I know I sound stupid, but I never paid attention in Social Studies.

"Oh! I've never seen anyone get claimed like that! You must be special!" Hazel practically screamed. Other people glanced at us with weird looks.

"Who's Athena?" I ask her stupidly.

"You're kidding, right?" I gave her a quick head shake. "She's the patron goddess of Athens, the goddess of wisdom. Anything ringing a bell?" She explained. I've heard her name in class, never thought twice about it, though.

"Okay. Let's have a tour." I said. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

"Let's go!" Hazel cried. "Brad's not coming, he has to attend to his other issues, I uh mean, things to do." She came closer and whispered. "In other words, his girlfriend." And I cracked up a little bit. But I toned it down when I saw his glare.

LINE BREAK

"And this is the dining pavilion, which is like a lunchroom, with breakfast and dinner, too." Hazel giggled. So far the camp was more than the average summer camp. "Next are the cabins!" We walked over to a ring of cabins, which looked more like houses than cabins.

"Here's mine, and here's yours." She showed me. I walked towards my cabin, about to walk in when I ran into her, a girl with long brown/black hair, wearing a red sweater, even though it was June.

"Sorry," I said as she fell on to the ground, the paper she must've been writing on fluttered in the breeze. She looked at me, like she was trying to figure out a math problem on my face. Without looking away, her hand reached out to grab the sheet, and caught it. She got up, looked at my face one more time as if to check her work, and then rolled her eyes, as if it was the answer.

She walked away, without a word. "Who was that?" I ask Hazel. Her face looked like it couldn't be more mad.

"Jacey Lillis." She replies through her teeth. "Let's just wrap up the tour, okay?" Hazel says once again happy.

"Okay, where to next?" I ask, following her to a shack with the door wide open.

"To pick out your weapon!" She says excitedly. I pick a sword that's barely long enough to call a sword, but it fits in the holder perfectly, so I hook it up and we go to the dining pavilion to get dinner.

"Introduce yourself to your cabin. They haven't had a new member in forever so just say hi and stuff." Hazel tells me as we walk into the pavilion.

I go over to the table she points at and I sound like the stupidest guy alive when I say, "Hi,"

"Uh, hi, um, not to sound rude, but who are you?" A guy asks me.

"Oh, I'm Noah Jones, and I'm a son of Athena, like all of you." I say nervously.

"Excuse me, but some of us are _daughters_ of Athena." A girl with a playful grin on her face corrects me. I laugh a small laugh and sit down next to the guy who talked to me earlier.

"I'm Jack. So, how have you liked Camp Half-blood?" He asks me.

"Oh, it's been cool, but what do you guys do all day?" I say as I look around for that girl, Jacey, that I ran into earlier. I found her sitting at the end of a table full of people; every seat was filled except the ones next and across from her. I wonder why.

"We battle, since we're training to be heroes. I could show you the basics tomorrow." Jack offers. I might as well accept, since I had nothing better to do tomorrow.

"Okay. Where do I get food?" I ask him hungrily. Just to emphasize how starving I really was, my stomach gave out a low grumble.

"Oh, just over there, you can just go up and grab some. It's really good." He answers as he points to the wall. I walk over and help myself to food I'd never eaten, and sat down. "You have to put part of your food in the fire for a god, or gods." Jack whispers to me as I grab my fork.

"Huh?" I ask him. My eyes find a fire in the center of the room and a kid scrapping part of his meal into it. "Oh, uh, for the gods?" I say as I scrape some of my mashed potatoes into the fire.

When dinner was over Jack told me there was a campfire, and everyone went, so we went along with the crowds to the place.

As we went to a bench, I ran into Jacey again, and she was still writing on a piece of paper. What's wrong with me! She doesn't fall down this time; she just stumbles back, but drops her paper. She looks at me the same way, trying to solve something, and grabs her paper. She walks to a bench in the last row with no one sitting at it, and writes.


	4. Chapter 4

In the morning I found an orange Camp Half-blood T-Shirt sitting on the foot of my bed. I put it on with some jeans and went to breakfast, then the practice field with Jack. I saw Jacey sitting on a bench, still writing.

Jack teaches me some basic sword handling techniques and skills by lunch, and we hurry to get some, while Jacey still sits on the bench. When we came back she was still there, thinking, writing, and erasing.

"Can you tell me what's up with Jacey Lillis? Everyone seems to hate her." I try to stay casual when saying this, but it sounds like I'm being pushy.

"Oh. Well, she's not a half-blood." He answered simply.

"What? But doesn't everyone here have to-"

He cut me off. "She's a three-fourth blood. Her dad is Apollo, and her mom is a minor half-blood, daughter of Paeeon, the healing god. She's the best healer we have, probably the best healer anywhere in the mortal world. She never practices; just writes. Thinks she's too good for the rest of us."I don't think I was suppoed to hear that last part"

"So she just writes all day, never anything else? Does she ever talk to anyone?" I ask him.

"Never, to both of your questions." He answers me, trying to make a joke, but failing epicly.

I wonder if it could actually happen; a three-fourths blood. Why hadn't it ever happened before? Well, at least it explains why she didn't talk to me, and rolled her eyes.

We finish practicing and go to dinner, and I sit in the same place, but today Chiron, the camp director, who is also a centaur, makes an announcement. He says we will be having a competition after dinner, and we needed to pick a partner from your cabin, so I turned to Jack, and we were partners.

The course looked difficult. The first thing we had to do was run up a steep hill, about 10 feet high. Then climb across a ladder hung horizontally to a tower. After that we have to scale down the tower on a rope, after which we have to climb over a 7 foot tall wood wall with nothing but what we have.

I had to go first, since Jack could go faster to finish up. I pace myself on the hill, so the ladder is pretty much free when I get to it. There's a girl hanging on the ladder, dangling 10 feet in the air, so I help her up, and get to the tower.

I grab one of the ten ropes and scale down the tower, and rip it off in total instincts. I throw it over the wall and yell for Jack to grab it. He does and I climbed over and slid down the rope, getting rope burn on my hands.

Jack does the same thing back, but we don't win. The Apollo cabin won, with a prize of a piano and a chariot, where the piano goes was their choice. They decided to put it in the dining pavilion, and I really couldn't care less; I had never touched a piano in my life.

"We'll win it next time." Jack muttered. If there is a next time, I wanted to add, but Chiron told us all to get to out cabins, and I didn't exactly want to argue.


End file.
